Younger Crowds are Right in the Middle

When looking for a place to settle down, one might consider cities with active cultural scenes or intellectual communities. However, young people today are looking beyond those factors and moving to where the jobs are. Portland, for example, has a thriving social scene and is one of the nation’s leaders in attracting college graduates, but it ranks 40 as the best place for young adults. A high cost of living, stagnant job growth, and a 9.6 percent jobless rate among 18 to 34 year-olds have tarnished Portland’s reputation as the dream city for life after graduation.

You can see the economic shift in this country by looking at the best cities for young people. The Southwest is now the haven for those in their 20s and 30s looking to establish their lives and careers. Austin, which ranks number one on the list, has the highest annual employment-growth rate in America at 2.8 percent. This has increased the concentration of 18 to 34 year-olds in its metro area to 28 percent, the most of all cities in the study and well above the average of 23.1 percent. Washington, D.C., Raleigh, Boston, Houston, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth and Tulsa round out the top eight.

However, economics do not dictate everything. North Dakota, which has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, is still not a major draw for those right out of college. The cities that have attracted young people in droves not only offer employment and lower costs of living, but also provide some sort of cultural scene. However, if the recession continues to limit job growth on the coasts, North Dakota may build its metro areas to cater to younger crowds, and thus provide them with more than just a steady, good-paying job. Fargo has seen positive net migration every year since 2003, and the state of North Dakota was positive for the first time this decade in 2009. The middle of the country is slowly becoming hot place to be.

windowsvistahelpnow.com
I relocated to Bangalore mainly because of the job opportunities here. I think now a days all the youngsters are like me. Job opportunities are the only factor which decides the relocation to a new place.

However, if the recession continues to limit job growth on the coasts, North Dakota may build its metro areas to cater to younger crowds, and thus provide them with more than just a steady, good-paying job. cell phone spy softwarecell phone listening

Generally I do not read article on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do so! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, very great post.Ruah Flames Tips And Tricks

You say "young people today are looking beyond those factors and moving to where the jobs are".

Article says: "Though Portland is among the top five cities in the country for in-migration of college educated, 25-to-34-year-olds, a new study pegs it a lowly No. 40 among the nation’s best places for young adults."

So basically young people are looking beyond the fact that there are no jobs and moving to Portland anyway.

The ranking is not based on the actual actions of people in their 20s and 30s; it's based on where some wonk thinks they should want to go. A reasonable approach to this idea would be to ask where young people are actually moving, and then try to decipher why. Or rather it depends on what your goal is. Are you trying to figure out what young people want? Or are you trying to advise young people on where they ought to go.

I'm curious as to what is driving the employment numbers in North Dakota. My observations are casual and unscientific but as a geologist working on natural gas wells in Pennsylvania as part of the Marcellus boom, to what degree is the job growth in North Dakota a result of the development of the Williston Basin? A number of the jobs surrounding that industry are high-paying, yet low-skill. Of course there are associated geological and environmental jobs as well as the trickle down to the local economies - but what is the true picture of sustainable long-term growth for young, educated workers?